557 part v: daily meditations 11. SATURDAY MORNING On the opening of the side, descent (from the Cross) and burial of Christ the Lord; and the sorrows of the Virgin Mary. [f.183r] 1. Ponder that unheard of evil deed of the centurion Longinus. When he approached the Cross with other soldiers and saw that Christ the Lord had already died, he thrust his lance with cruelty unheard and unthought of from all ages and plunged it with great force and anger into the side of the deceased Savior. O God! O heavens! O created things, be all astounded by it! Did anyone ever ill-treat a dead man? Even wild animals, even dogs no longer rage against a lacerated dog, but move away from the dead. Oh immense humility of Christ the Lord, which was so much more profound than anybody else’s, even after His death He still wanted to experience human rage against His body. But consider, my soul: as Christ suffered the ignominy of this wound, all of the pain pierced the Blessed Virgin Mary, who felt it no differently than as if her own side and heart had been stabbed. Wherefore consider that you owe much to the Son, but also not a little to the Mother. 2. Consider that Joseph of Arimathea, this faithful friend and disciple of Christ the Lord, approached Pilate and asked him for permission to take the body of the Lord down from the Cross. Having received it, he immediately went to the Mount of Calvary, and with help of Nicodemus, a very devout man, he took down his already dead Master from that ignominious wooden beam, and, not without tears, deposited Him on His Mother’s maiden lap. Now, think a bit about the feelings of the Virgin Mother, what she thought, what pain she suffered, as she looked at the Son of the eternal Father, and also hers, so awfully wounded in His whole body! She was groaning and pouring out tears with which, instead of water, she washed the bloody limbs of the Lord. The
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==